--- url: 'https://metadrop.net/en/articles/metadrop-march-2025-content-first-publishing-docker-speedups-and-drupal-evolution' title: 'Metadrop March 2025: content-first publishing, docker speedups, and Drupal evolution' author: - 'Jorge Tutor' - 'Ricardo Sanz' date: '2025-04-29T08:02:38+00:00' updated: '2026-08-04T11:15:40+00:00' type: article summary: 'Highlights from a productive month at Metadrop—featuring DevOps tools, new Drupal modules, and a exploring content-centered workflows' tags: - 'Monthly update' - Docker - VLSuite - 'Tailwind CSS' - 'Xray Audit (Drupal module)' published: true og: determiner: Automatic site_name: Metadrop 'image:alt': 'Metadrop March 2025: content-first publishing, docker speedups, and Drupal evolution' street_address: 'Calle Manuel Luna, 12, 3 Dcha' locality: Madrid region: Madrid postal_code: '28020' country_name: España email: hola@metadrop.net phone_number: '910053180' schema: '@context': 'https://schema.org' '@graph': - '@type': Article '@id': 'https://metadrop.net/en/articles/metadrop-march-2025-content-first-publishing-docker-speedups-and-drupal-evolution#article' name: 'Metadrop March 2025: content-first publishing, docker speedups, and Drupal evolution' headline: 'Metadrop March 2025: content-first publishing, docker speedups, and Drupal evolution' description: 'Highlights from a productive month at Metadrop—featuring DevOps tools, new Drupal modules, and a exploring content-centered workflows' about: - 'Monthly update' - Docker - VLSuite - 'Tailwind CSS' - 'Xray Audit (Drupal module)' datePublished: '2025-04-29T18:02:38+0200' dateModified: '2026-08-04T13:15:40+0200' author: '@type': Person name: - 'Jorge Tutor' - 'Ricardo Sanz' publisher: '@type': Organization '@id': 'https://metadrop.net/#organization' mainEntityOfPage: 'https://metadrop.net/en/articles/metadrop-march-2025-content-first-publishing-docker-speedups-and-drupal-evolution' - '@type': Organization '@id': 'https://metadrop.net/#organization' url: 'https://metadrop.net/' name: Metadrop sameAs: - 'https://www.drupal.org/metadrop' - 'https://twitter.com/metadrop' - 'https://asociaciondrupal.es/partner/metadrop' - 'https://www.linkedin.com/company/metadrop' logo: '@type': ImageObject url: 'https://metadrop.net/themes/custom/mdrop_radix/logo-metadrop-500-500.jpg' width: '500' height: '500' - '@type': ItemPage '@id': 'https://metadrop.net/en/articles/metadrop-march-2025-content-first-publishing-docker-speedups-and-drupal-evolution' breadcrumb: '@type': BreadcrumbList itemListElement: - '@type': ListItem position: 1 name: Home item: 'https://metadrop.net/en' - '@type': ListItem position: 2 name: 'Expert Drupal & Tech Articles' item: 'https://metadrop.net/en/articles' publisher: '@type': Organization '@id': 'https://metadrop.net/#organization' --- 1. [Articles](https://metadrop.net/en/articles) # Metadrop March 2025: content-first publishing, docker speedups, and Drupal evolution Tuesday, April 29, 2025 Highlights from a productive month at Metadrop—featuring DevOps tools, new Drupal modules, and a exploring content-centered workflows March was all about focus: focusing developer workflows, focusing client delivery, and—most importantly—focusing on content. We released a **new module,** [**Content First**](https://metadrop.net/en/articles/the-content-first-module-a-tool-to-support-ongoing-content-workflows), to help teams work directly with real site content. We i**mproved our Docker infrastructure, contributed across the Drupal ecosystem**, and supported clients with robust, scalable solutions. Here’s a look at what shipped and why it matters. ## Content First: empowering editorial workflows We released the Content First module to **make real, live content more accessible to the people who use it** every day: editors, writers, and project managers. The **Content First** philosophy says websites should be built around content—not design. But in real life, even content-focused **projects hit a wall when content is difficult to access after it's been published because it's scattered across different content components**. This module solves that. It adds a **"Content" tab** to every node page, **displaying a clean, stripped-down version of the rendered content**—no menus, no blocks, no layout. Just the text as the user sees it where you can: - **Copy** it with one click - **Download** it as plain text - Use it as a **working base** for revisions, translations, or migrations No need to ask developers for exports or dig through backend fields. It’s simple, direct, and saves time across teams. ## Dockerized DDEV images for CI We use **DDEV (and** [**Aljibe**](https://github.com/Metadrop/ddev-aljibe/ "Aljibe in GitHub")**) for our local development and CI tests**. This allows us to have an environment with all the tools we use on a daily basis, especially testing tools. However, we faced some **performance issues in CI**: DDEV downloads all images during tests, even in different steps. This is not an issue with DDEV but with the integration of DDEV in a CI, where Docker-in-Docker is required. The result was almost **20 minutes for each test run dedicated to image download**. This is not ideal because it directly impacts costs and the times it takes to complete a deployment, which can be very important when there is a security issue or an urgent fix. To solve this, we **introduced** [**Metadrop/dind-ddev**](https://github.com/Metadrop/dind-ddev). This repository provides a way to generate configurable Docker-in-Docker images using DDEV images. This generated image is then uploaded to our Docker repository. This **image contains all the images required for the test**, thus reducing setup time, bandwidth, and startup time. It was not easy and we had to **apply some** ***DevOps Black Magic***, but we finally managed to overcome the issues with CI. It is now used in our standard development stack. ## Common base images for testing tools A **shared Docker base** now powers images for BackstopJS and UnLighthouse ([Metadrop/docker-aljibe-tools](https://github.com/Metadrop/docker-aljibe-tools)), with plans to integrate Pa11y next. These images are hosted on [ghcr.io](https://ghcr.io/) instead of DockerHub to **avoid recent** [**rate limit**](https://docs.docker.com/docker-hub/usage/ "Docker Hub rate limits info page") **issues**. By centralising and optimising our images, we save build time and reduce disk overhead in our local environments and CI runners like Jenkins or GitLab CI. ## Module releases March was full of module releases, issue patches, and structural improvements across core and contrib. ### Xray Audit 1.6 This major [release](https://www.drupal.org/project/xray_audit/releases/1.6.1 "Xray Audit release 1.6.1") focused on improving how audit data is organised and displayed: - New [**reports on Webform**](https://www.drupal.org/project/xray_audit/issues/3490632 ""Report about webforms" issue") usage - [Detection of **active image styles**](https://www.drupal.org/project/xray_audit/issues/3478216 ""Detect image styles that are being used" issue") - **Cleaner, consistent** [**report URLs**](https://www.drupal.org/project/xray_audit/issues/3512224 ""Improve the report urls" issue") and machine names - More detailed **content metrics** It is an important release, and aligns with our idea of giving site owners better **tools to understand how their content is working**. ### Layout improvements for VLSuite Work continued on VLSuite 3.0. One major issue addressed the module’s reliance on Bootstrap-specific class logic, replacing it with field-based utility classes **for broader theme compatibility**, including, for example Tailwind CSS baed themes—ideal for modern Drupal 10+ builds. ### Graphql compose upgrades While working with GraphQL and GraphQL Compose module we encountered some bugs so we **contributed patches to solve them that have been already accepted**. ### CDNetworks related modules Some of our clients use CDNetworks, but unfortunately, the Drupal community doesn't use this CDN very much. We provided some **help to the** [**CDNetworks Purge**](https://www.drupal.org/project/cdnetworks_purge "Module page in Drupal.org") **module and we released** [**URL Purge Aggregator**](https://www.drupal.org/project/url_purge_aggregator "Module page in Drupal.org") to integrate Drupal with this CDN as part of the improvements done to a project. ### Other releases - [GA Push module](https://www.drupal.org/project/ga_push/issues/3198872 "Module page in Drupal.org") upgraded to support **Google Analytics 4** - [Entity Reference Unrestricted Label 2.0.0](https://www.drupal.org/project/entity_reference_unrestricted_label/releases/2.0.0 "Module page in Drupal.org") released with **Drupal 11 support** - [Node Authorize Link 2.2.0](https://www.drupal.org/project/node_authlink/releases/2.2.0 "Module page in Drupal.org") now includes **admin Views** - [Iframe Consent](https://www.drupal.org/project/iframe_consent): **GDPR-compliant iframe** handling ### Multisite CI/CD for enterprise client We migrated a large multisite system from BLT to ACLI for Acquia Site Factory. The new setup includes: - **GitLab CI** integration - **Artifact** generation - **Deployment automation** This reduces deployment time, improves cache accuracy, and supports cleaner development pipelines. ## Local performance audits We ran a **frontend performance and responsive design audit** for a secured intranet. Since external tools couldn’t reach the site, we used **local Docker-based setups of Lighthouse and UnLighthouse** for effective, internal-only testing. ## Coming soon: Artisan 2.0 We’re deep into development on **Artisan 2.0**, **our base theme for Drupal**. Big changes include: - **TailwindCSS + DaisyUI** integration - **Autodetection** of CSS variables - **Vite-based** asset compilation It’s a developer-first rebuild designed for performance, clarity, and scalability. We'll talk more about this as soon as it is ready for a stable release. [Monthly update](https://metadrop.net/en/articles?text=Monthly%20update) [Docker](https://metadrop.net/en/articles?text=Docker) [VLSuite](https://metadrop.net/en/articles?text=VLSuite) [Tailwind CSS](https://metadrop.net/en/articles?text=Tailwind%20CSS) [Xray Audit (Drupal module)](https://metadrop.net/en/articles?text=Xray%20Audit%20%28Drupal%20module%29) - Jorge Tutor CIO - Ricardo Sanz CTO [Open Source Commitment](https://metadrop.net/en/about/open-source-commitment " See Open Source Commitment") Metadrop is committed to open source: 120+ contributed Drupal modules, 500+ community patches, and a philosophy of sharing knowledge freely. See more